Superbonen, the panacea against food shortage

In Africa, is working on a new tool against food shortages. The superboon looks attractive, is sweet and is easy to grow. Nothing but benefits.

Hunger and global warming threaten the future of Africa, and so worked to make the supply at this level. The ‘superboon’ offers opportunities, a fast-growing variety that file is …

Hunger and global warming threaten the future of Africa, and so worked to make the supply at this level. The ‘superboon’ offers opportunities, a fast-growing variety that is resistant to the drought and a number of diseases, and which is being promoted by the government of Uganda.

Superbonen be on two places in Africa is grown. One is near Kampala, the capital of Uganda, that has to deal with a million refugees from South Sudan. The other is in the slightly more southern Malawi. It is stressed that it is a kind of bean that was established by a conventional genetic selection, not through genetic manipulation.

The efficiency is high

In particular, the success in Uganda is important, because it is a region par excellence, is plagued by exceptional drought. Tests showed that the efficiency of the superboon twice as high as those of the ‘traditional’ beans. The new species have not only less affected by the drought, by the fact that they grow faster (between planting and harvesting is about sixty days), they also need less water than their counterparts.

The price includes: for a kilo of beans on the market between 25 cents and a half euro paid, for a kilo of seed runs the price on up to a euro per kilogram. But usually, the seeds of the various crops may be recovered. Estimates assume that 50 kg of seed to 2,000 kilograms of beans can provide.

At this moment, it is mainly focus on three variants: the Nabe 4, Nabe 15 and Nabe 17. In all, in Uganda more than 4,000 bonensoorten in a database, but the Nabe’s – and then especially the Nabe 15 – is the one that is most hoped for. The species was developed in cooperation with the Colombian Centre for Tropical Agriculture.

“The beans undergo rigorous testing before they find their way to the broad public,” says Stanley Nkalubo, a researcher at the Ugandan Institute for Agriculture.

Refugees want to get rid of help

The boonsoorten can be grown in the valleys, up on average height (about 1,600 metres). A not to underestimate advantage in Africa. Moreover, they are quickly kookgaar and they have other advantages for the consumer: they are reddish, a color which the local residents love, and sweet in taste.

By the influx of Sudanese refugees in Uganda were auxiliaries, the food rations, to limit. That refugees with lack of food returned to areas of conflict in their own country, was seen as very disturbing considered.

The superboon can solve that, because many refugees have a background in agriculture. Since the bean is easy to grow, everyone would be quite fast in his own maintenance, must be able to provide.

“Many refugees are reluctant to passive recipients of food aid,” says Andie Lambe, director of the International Agency for Vluchtelingenrechten.

The intention is that the superboon is spread over thirty countries, who then learn how to grow, each adapted to the local conditions. Lambe sees the next step: “As we small loans could provide an opportunity to local business.’